The Jackbox Survey Scramble Review – Survey Says

The Jackbox Survey Scramble Review

The Jackbox Survey Scramble is the latest entry in the Jackbox Games series. This isn’t a pack of separate games, like the usual Jackbox Party Packs. It’s one game, with several subsections that all revolve around the idea of finding popular answers in surveys. If you’re a fan of Jackbox games, The Jackbox Survey Scramble is a little different, so read on to find out if this new entry is for you.

For those who haven’t played Jackbox games before, they’re party games that require smartphones. After the game is booted on your console, a room code is given, and everyone has to go to jackbox.tv on their smartphones, and enter the room code. The games use your console and TV as a central hub, and gameplay involves writing in secret on each individual’s phone. Unfortunately, The Jackbox Survey Scramble can’t really be played online, because everyone needs the same room code and central hub. But these games are best played locally, where players can share laughter, and see each other’s reactions.

A New Take on Family Feud

The Jackbox Survey Scramble is the Jackbox series’ interesting take on Family Feud. It doesn’t have the same format as the TV show, but takes the idea of people answering surveys, then having the players guess what the most popular answers will be. Between games players can answer survey questions on their phones, which add to the database of answers the game takes from. The questions are all fairly straightforward, like “Which weapon would you choose in a zombie apocalypse?”. My only complaint about the survey questions, is that the answers can only be one word, which leaves out obvious responses. This wasn’t a deal breaker, but it’s a limitation players will recognize quickly.

There are 4 different ways to play The Jackbox Survey Scramble. The first game mode is Hilo. This mode is the closest to regular Family Feud. Players are given a question, then asked to guess the most voted answer twice. Then they’re asked to give the least voted answer twice (answers that didn’t rank don’t count). And finally, the players are given a choice between two answers. The most points at the end wins. The TV screen shows a list of approximately 500 hidden answers, and reveals players’ answers in the list as they input their responses. Hilo was simple, very well-structured, and quick to play. Choosing least popular answers was a fun twist on Family Feud’s formula.

4 Game Modes

Speed is the second game mode in The Jackbox Survey Scramble. It’s similar to Hilo, but acts as a lightning round, where players have to write their answers to a question. They have 20 seconds to submit an answer on the list of the 500 or so top answers. If a player gets an answer on the list, the 20 second timer is reset. When players run out of answers to give in 20 seconds, the timer runs out, and the player with the most points wins. Speed was great, and has some added value in that players can also work together to see what percentage of the answers they can figure out.

Squares is a game mode that functions like tic-tac-toe. There a 3×3 grid on the screen, and each square has value. For example the first square could have answers 1-2, the second square answers 3-5, the last square answers 70+, etc. Players have to guess answers to a question, like in Hilo, and Speed, but they take over the tick-tac-toe squares that have their answer’s ranking. If a player gets an answer closer to the top of a square’s rank value, they can steal it. For example, if I have the 2^nd square, which has answers 3-5, because I guessed the 5^th best answer, another player can steal it if they guess the 3^rd or 4^th best answer. Squares was tons of fun. Incorporating tic-tac-toe with survey questions was a genius game idea.

3/4 Ain’t Bad

The final game mode, in The Jackbox Survey Scramble, is Bounce. It has an interface like Pong, where players submit answers to survey questions, and the best answers are pitted against each other, knocking the bouncy ball on screen at the other players. Players choose teams for Bounce. While one team’s answer is displayed, with its ranking, the other team can madly type answers, hoping to guess higher-ranked, and prevent the bouncy ball from hitting them. This game took a few tries to figure out. It wasn’t intuitive, and the speed needed to steal was too fast for older players to capitalize on. I doubt I’ll be playing Bounce again.

The Jackbox Survey Scramble also has a “Tour” option, which makes one long game, tallying points from Hilo, Speed, Squares, and Bounce, in order. There’s also a “Pick For Me” option, which chooses a game for the players at random. The Jackbox Survey Scramble’s interface is clean. The visuals and background music never get in the way of gameplay. They also don’t elevate the presentation in any way. There is occasional jank connecting phones with multiple people, but these annoyances could be fixed with a screen refresh. Because of the party game nature of Jackbox games, the experience isn’t destroyed by hiccups. These are casual games, that rarely require precision.

Rising Above Its Flaws

As a lifelong Family Feud fan, I loved The Jackbox Survey Scramble. It was fun to play, and a treat to be a part of the surveys. I do wish that answers didn’t need to be kept at one word. And Bounce isn’t as strong as the other three games. I also wish there was a way to play online with random players. There are a lot of minor issues with The Jackbox Survey Scramble, but the core gameplay is extremely fun and simple. These problems really didn’t get in the way of the great experience I had, which is why it still scores well. And the price of The Jackbox Survey Scramble is only $12.99 CAD, so probably $9.99 USD. That’s a very low cost for a party game that’ll I’ll be playing for a long time. The Jackbox Survey Scramble is a must-own for Family Feud fans.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***